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Placement information

Our Allied Health Professions and Public Health courses include unpaid clinical placements hosted with the awarded NHS trusts and the wider community. Find out more about what you can expect on placement.

Frequently Asked Questions

For all undergraduate Allied Health Professions and Public Health courses, you will be required to undertake a placement.

Placements are a great opportunity for you to develop your skills as well as gain key insight into your chosen future profession. Placements help our student learners to transition into a professional working environment, supplementing the taught elements of your academic programme. At all levels of your chosen course, you will undertake unpaid clinical placements in both hospitals and the wider community.

Our placements are varied and aim to ensure you experience a variety of healthcare areas. While you are on placement, you are encouraged to be proactive in engaging with your placement team, undertaking the roles assigned to you with diligence and a commitment to always do your best.

Placements are allocated at least four weeks prior to the beginning of the placement but are often allocated sooner. All placements are managed through a Placement Electronic Platform, known as ARC. This platform contains all the information about placements, feedback forms, information about the placement area as well as profiles and contact details for the area staff and management. You can also access your timesheets via ARC. You can access ARC from a computer or laptop.

You do not need to worry about finding your own placement.  This is done for you by our placements tutor.  You will be involved in this process from week one at the university and throughout the programme you will have discussions about placement options and interests.

For Paramedic Sciences, the Northeast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust are allocated within a 25-mile radius of registered home address. There are no mileage limits on other placements.

We have a wide range of settings for your placement. We have placements as far North as Northumberland and as far south as North Yorkshire.  We try to consider personal circumstances when we allocate placements so we will look at your mode of transport and where you live as well as whether you have any additional responsibilities outside of university.

Some placements will require the ability to travel, and some placements cover large geographical areas which must be considered as we cannot promise placements close to home. Some community placements are restricted to car drivers and business insurance is required.

It is important to note that your placement may include a range of shift patterns and night duty. During placement, students will follow the usual shift patterns of the placement provider, and this is non-negotiable.

A driving licence is not a mandatory requirement, but you will be expected to travel to placements and shift patterns may not always fit with the availability of public transport. Where possible we do try to arrange placements near to term-time addresses. We strongly encourage you to try to gain a full driving licence by the end of the course to enhance your job opportunities and employability.

Occupational therapy students using equipment in the mock house

Occupational Therapy placements

You will be required to complete 1000 hours of clinical placement during your studies. You will have one placement in your first year, two placements in your second year, and one placement in your third and final year. Your placements will be:

  • In year one, there is one placement block of 6 weeks (6 weeks in total)
  • In year two, there are two placement blocks, the first being 8 weeks long and the second being 6 weeks (14 weeks in total)
  • In year three, there is one placement block of 10 weeks (10 weeks in total) 

 

Your Occupational Therapy placement can occur in a variety of settings, which might include physical trusts, mental health organisations, community settings, acute settings, local authority organisations, private organisations, third and voluntary sector organisations. You must complete your placement experience across a variety of physical and mental health specialities.

You also have the opportunity to experience working in an emerging setting through a non-traditional placement. Some examples include working with veterans, mainstream primary schools, local community centres and farms. There is also an opportunity to experience overseas work in year two.

Physiotherapy and occupational therapy students working together

Occupational Therapy Accelerated placements

You will be required to complete 1000 hours of clinical placement during your studies. You will have one placement for level four (usually your first year), one placement at level five and one placement at level six (usually during your second and final year). Your placements will be:

  • In year one, there is one placement block of 6 weeks (6 weeks in total)
  • In year two, there are two placement blocks, the first being 9 weeks long and the second being 12 weeks (21 weeks in total) 

 

Your Occupational Therapy placements can occur in a variety of settings, which might include physical trusts, mental health organisations, community settings, acute settings, local authority organisations, private organisations, third and voluntary sector organisations. You must complete your placement experience across a variety of physical and mental health specialities.

You will also have the opportunity to experience working in an emerging setting as part of your placement in year two.

A physiotherapy lecturer teaching a class of students

Physiotherapy placements

You will be required to complete 1000 hours of clinical placement during your studies. You will have one placement in your first year, one placement in your second year, and three placements in your third and final year. Your placements will be:

  • In year one, there is one placement block of four weeks
  • In year two, there is one placement block six weeks long
  • In year three, there are three placement blocks of five weeks, six weeks and eight weeks (sixteen weeks in total). The first five week placement takes place in the summer (June - July) between Year 2 and Year 3 and is an elective placement. This means you can organise your own placement, which includes possible international locations.

 
Your Physiotherapy placement will occur in a variety of settings, to reflect the diversity of the profession. For example, this may include musculoskeletal, neurological, cardiovascular, respiratory, paediatric and older people's services across the NHS, Social Services, Private Practice, Sports Teams and Charities.  

Paramedic students attending to a patient during a simulation

Paramedic Science placements

As part of your programme, you are required to undertake practice based placements which will support your development and assist in the transition of theory into practice. These placements occur in a variety of ambulance and non-ambulance settings and will include:

  • In year one, 10 weeks of ambulance placement and two weeks of Fundamentals of Care in hospital environments (12 weeks in total)
  • In year two, 10 weeks of ambulance placements and two weeks of Acute and Critical Care placements (12 weeks in total)
  • In year three, 10 weeks of ambulance placement and two weeks of primary care/advanced practitioner placement (12 weeks in total) – there is also an opportunity for an additional 2 week elective placement

 

Your Paramedic Sciences placement can occur in a variety of settings, which for your first year might include ambulance placements and hospital wards to understand the fundamentals of patient care.

For your second year, this may include further ambulance placements, with critical care placements such as ITU, Theatres and A&E, with emphasis on mental health in the community.

For your third year, you have a variety of options, including further ambulance placements, primary care such as walk in centres or GP surgeries, and a two-week elective placement you can choose, including specialist roles with Cardiac Arrest Cars or hospitals in Africa.

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